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How To Read Capacitor Value?

February 17, 2017 By Administrator(https://www.electronicshub.org/author/elktros/)

In the previous tutorials, we have seen what is capacitance and charge (http:/www.electronicshub.org/capacitance-and-charge/)?. In this
tutorial we are going to learn how to read the capacitor value?. For some applications, it is necessary to know the tolerance and voltage
values of the capacitor along with the capacitance. All these parameters are represented on the body of the capacitor.

Different types of capacitors (https://www.electronicshub.org/types-of-capacitor/) have different ways of representing the capacitance
values . Capacitors like electrolytic capacitors, non- polarised capacitors, large ac oil filled paper capacitors have capacitance and voltage,
tolerance values written on its body using numbers and letters.Some capacitors have values represented using color code. Let us see
how to read capacitance value in these two methods.

Outline

How to read capacitor value written on capacitors??

Let us see how to read the capacitor values with numbers and alphabets. Along with the capacitance other values like tolerance and
voltage were written on the capacitor itself if there is enough space. But for small capacitors like ceramic capacitors , as the space is not
enough , capacitor values are represented using shorthand notation.

Reading capacitor values on Large capacitor(cylindrical capacitors)

For large capacitors, generally capacitor value is written on the side of the capacitor.
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(https://www.electronicshub.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Electrolytic-capacitor.jpg)

The above figure shows a 22 micro farad capacitor .Capacitance value is expressed in Farads (F or FD).
Here are the units used for representing capacitor value .Micro farad (uf,µf,mF (or) MF) , Nano farad ( nF ), Pico farad(pF).

uF(or)MF(or)mF Microfarad 10-6

nF Nanofarad 10-9

pF(or)mmF(or)uuF Picofarad 10-12

Voltage rating on the capacitor indicates the maximum value voltage that capacitor can handle.Voltage rating on the capacitor is
indicated by V, VDC, and VDCW.
VAC represents that capacitor is designed for AC circuit (https://www.electronicshub.org/ac-resistive-circuits/).
It is to be noted that DC rating capacitors should not be used for AC unless you have proper knowledge to use that capacitor. Some
capacitors have voltages represented in codes instead of value.
Tolerance value is indicated using % symbol before the number. Tolerance value represents the variation of capacitance value .

Reading the values of small capacitors(ceramic capacitors)

Ceramic capacitors have very small area to print the value of capacitance. So capacitance on these capacitors is represented using short
hand notation. Let us see how to calculate these values. Generally capacitance of ceramic, tantalum ,film capacitors is expressed in Pico
Farad.

Step 1: If the capacitor has two numerical values.

If the notation on the capacitor has 2 digits and a letter (like 22M) ,then it has capacitance value of 22.
Some capacitors (https://www.electronicshub.org/ac-capacitor-wiring-colors/) have letters in the second position and numerical
value in first position.
Ex: 5R2 = 5.2PF.
In place of R if the letters like p, n, u are present then they represent units of capacitance.
Ex: 4n1 = 4.1nF, p45=0.45pF
 Step 2:Some of them have three numerical values.
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(https://www.electronicshub.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ceramic-capacitor-104.jpg)

Capacitor shown above has notation 104 on it.

Capacitance is calculated as 10x 104 = 105pf = 0.1uf
If the third digit is between 0 to 6 follow the above procedure.
If it is 8 multiply it by using 0.01.for example 158 =15×0.01 = 0.15pF
If it is 9 multiply it by using 0.1.For example 159 =15×0.1 =1.5pF

Tolerance

The tolerance value for these capacitors is represented using single letter.Each letter has a value.

A ±0.05 pF

B ±0.1 pF

C ±0.25 pF

D ±0.5 pF

E ±0.5%

F ±1%

G ±2%

H ±3%

J ±5 %

K ±10%

L ±15%

M ±20%

N ±30%

P –0%, + 100%
 S –20%, + 50%
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W –0%, + 200%

X –20%, + 40%

Z –20%, + 80%

Capacitance value Calculator

Convert to value Convert to code

Code Value Units

pF

pF =

nF =

mF =

How to read Capacitor Color Coding?

Color coding of capacitors is an age old technique. But some of these capacitors are still in use today. So let us see how to calculate
the value of capacitance and voltage rating if they are represented using color coding.
Generally color codes are indicated using Dots or Bands. For Mica capacitors color coding is shown in Dots while for tubular
capacitors it may be shown using bands. The number of dots or bands on a capacitor may vary from one another .

Below two tables shows the values of colors given on the capacitors.

Capacitance Color Code Table

Band Digit Digit Multiplier Tolerance Tolerance

Color A B D (T) > 10pf (T) < 10pf

Black A 0 x1 ±20% ±2.0pF

Brown 1 1 x10 ±1% ±0.1pF

 Red 2 2 x100 ±2% ±0.25pF
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Orange 3 3 x1000 ±3%

Yellow 4 4 x10,000 ±4%

Green 5 5 x100,000 ±5% ±0.5pF

Blue 6 6 x1,000,000

Violet 7 7

Grey 8 8 x0.01 +80 ,-20%

White 9 9 x0.1 ±10% ±1.0pF

Gold x0.1 ±5%

Silver x0.01 ±10%

Capacitor Voltage Color Code

Colour Type TypeK TypeL TypeM TypeN

Black 4 100 – 10 10

Brown 6 200 100 1.6 –

Red 10 300 250 4 35

Orange 15 400 – 40 –

Yellow 20 500 400 6.3 6

Green 25 600 16 15

Blue 35 700 630 – 20

Violet 50 800 – – –

Grey – 900 – 25 25

White 3 1000 – 2.5 3

Gold – 2000 – – –

Silver – – – – –

Let us see an example of ceramic or disc capacitor for calculating the color code on it.

Disc & Ceramic Capacitor

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Figure 2. Disc capacitors with colour codes (https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/capacitor/cap29a.gif)

5 Responses
These colour codes are used from many years for non-polarized capacitors like disc and ceramic capacitors. But it is difficult to identify
the values in the kavya
case of old capacitors. So these old capacitors are now replaced with new numbers.
says:

Its really help full article.thank u

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Das says:
↪
104=10×10^4= 100,000pf= 0.1uf

Reply

Dale Zalewski says:

Those of us engaged in restoration work frequently encounter rectangular block mica capacitors with a color dot code
or tubular ceramic capacitors with a color dot/band code. Dop you have any information that will assist us in reading
these codes?

Reply

Fundile says:
 Thanks for the informative post, I would like to ask how do you determine the value of a capacitor when you have only
  colour codes without specifying the type of the capacitor? like the TYPE: J, K, L, M, N? for the voltage rating? Here is an
(https://www.electronicshub.org)
example…Green, Red, Orange, Green, Brown.

Reply

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